A ferret which was found wandering near Bizzie Lizzie’s fish and chip shop in Swadford Street, Skipton, last week, has been reunited with its owner following an appeal in the Craven Herald. The friendly and well-cared for creature had initially been looked after at Skipton Police Station before being found a foster home. However, ferret and owner have now been reunited – but just how it came to be in the middle of Skipton remains a mystery.

Fans of BBC’s Bargain Hunt may well recognise a familiar face on an episode being screened next week. Dave Tollerton, chairman of the Skipton and District Royal Naval Association, is joined by three other colleagues as they compete against another team to hunt out antiques and sell them at auction. The team making the biggest profit is named as winners. I’m told it is a very entertaining episode. It will be screened on BBC1 at mid-day on Wednesday.

I’m happy to report that the pair of white pheasants, so often spotted by a colleague while out horseriding in East Marton, look set to survive yet another season. She was stopped while out riding at the weekend and told that the pheasants are considered “lucky pheasants” and bought in order to give the shoot luck. And, as lucky pheasants, the guns definitely avoid shooting them.

The Settle Carlisle railway has been in the news recently, and if you’re wondering what all the fuss is about here’s your chance to find out. Author Stan Abbot will give an illustrated talk, The Line that Refused to Die, at Victoria Hall, Settle, tomorrow, at 7.15pm. It’s the story of the six-year fight to save the line and is part of the 2014 Ride2stride Festival – a week-long festival of walks, talks and music along the line, which started on Tuesday and runs until Monday. For full details, visit ride2stride.org.uk A charity barge-pull will pass through Craven next week. Nurse Emma Fisher, her husband Gavin and eight friends will haul the barge along the canal towpath from Liverpool to Leeds to raise £20,000 for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. They will set off from Liverpool on Sunday and members of Keighley Cougars will meet them at Warehouse Swing Bridge, in Kildwick, on Thursday. The club’s players will give the Fishers and their friends a much-needed break by pulling the barge to Booth’s Swing Bridge, in Riddlesden. Mr and Mrs Fisher, of Thackley, aim to complete the 127-mile challenge in five days. Mrs Fisher said: “It’s going to be gruelling, but anything worth doing is always hard work. What we will experience is nothing compared to someone going through chemotherapy – especially if they’ve been given a terminal prognosis.” The event is in memory of Julie Robinson, 48, from Leeds, who survived for 21 months after doctors gave her only eight weeks when she was diagnosed with aggressive small cell disease. People can donate by going to virginmoneygiving.com/ team/BARGEPULL.

These Craven friends are to reach sky high in their bid to swell a fund to support families with children suffering from brain tumours. Chloe McGoldrick, Gemma Jones, Chris Pye, Abby Allen, Paul Metcalfe and Sarni Toor plan to launch themselves in a tandem sky-dive next Saturday, May 11, in aid of Harry’s Star. The fund, set up by Skipton hairdresser Claire Marsden, who lost her son Harry when he was only 10 months old to a brain tumour, is now at £54,289.54. Claire said: “I’m so grateful to them all. They saw a post I wrote about Harry’s Star on a Facebook page.” People wanting to donate can go to justgiving.com/harrysstar or donate £3 by texting HAZA47 3 to 70070.

Sixth formers at Skipton Girls’ High School are well equipped for their forthcoming exams – thanks to national charity Time to Look Beyond the Mirror. The students took part in a Positive Mindset Day, delivered by local practitioners from the Ilkley Happiness Centre, designed to help the girls think about their mental well-being, including strategies for stress relief. “This highly interactive day was delivered in a light-hearted, yet informative way to equip each student with the skills and approaches to help them manage the workload and exam pressures of the forthcoming months,” said a school spokesman. “The girls enjoyed a medley of activities from meditation, yoga, boot camp, exam success and goal setting.”

I am indebted to Skipton and District Royal Naval Association for this snippet of information. It was on April 16, 1921, that the milk allowance for the Admiralty cat was raised from one shilling (5p in today’s money) to one shilling and sixpence (seven and a half pence) per week.